Battle of Stalingrad 1943 -2013

[Dandyman]

Video: Stalingrad anniversary: war veterans recall battle 70 years ago - Telegraph


On 02 February 1943, the forces of the Soviet Union completed the destruction of the Nazis and their allies at Stalingrad, destroying or capturing 22 enemy divisions.

After Stalingrad the Nazis never won another strategic victory on the Eastern Front. The USSR lost over a million people killed or injured during the siege and battle from August 1942 to February 1943. Without victory at Stalingrad and later at Kursk any non-nuclear defeat of the Nazis would have been nearly unthinkable.

Never forget.

 

[Stoo82]

Never forget the destrution and crimes the Soviets committed on their way to Berlin.

I thought you were Polish or had a link with them?

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Video: Stalingrad anniversary: war veterans recall battle 70 years ago - Telegraph

After Stalingrad the Nazis never won another strategic victory on the Eastern Front. The USSR lost over a million people killed or injured during the siege and battle from August 1942 to February 1943. Without victory at Stalingrad and later at Kursk any non-nuclear defeat of the Nazis would have been nearly unthinkable.

Never forget.

Apart from Kharkov.

If The Germans had gone for Moscow rather than spreading themselves too thinly then the war in the east would have likely been a different story.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

 

[Dandyman]

Apart from Kharkov.

If The Germans had gone for Moscow rather than spreading themselves too thinly then the war in the east would have likely been a different story.

I agree that the Nazis could have fought their war more sensibly - in many ways their political aims in the terms of mass murder of the Jews and the enslavement of the Slavs fatally undermined their military effort. That said even without that and the self-destruction that Stalin unleashed on the Red Army in the run up to WW2 I think the resolve and strength of the Soviet people would still have proved too strong for Hitler.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

Another tactical blunder by that master tactician Adolf Hitler, as bad as not pushing on into Dunkirk when he had the opportunity to decimate the British army.

Two mistakes that cost him the war and saved the world.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

The biggest mistake the Germans and Japanese made was not attacking Russia on two fronts. If they'd done that they'd have been overrun.

The Japanese not attacking Russia was the reason why they had such success.

 

[MattBackHome]

What's staggering is the sheer scale of Stalingrad, even within the wider context of WW2. Just unimaginable horror.

 

[Dandyman]

What's staggering is the sheer scale of Stalingrad, even within the wider context of WW2. Just unimaginable horror.

Very true. Up to 850,000 Nazi casualties (Killed, Wounded, POW) and up to 1.1 million Soviet ones plus the destruction of the city and surrounding areas. I'm not sure anyone really knows the total number of dead.

 

[Weststander]

Never forget the destrution and crimes the Soviets committed on their way to Berlin.

I thought you were Polish or had a link with them?

Lesser of 2 evils at that time.

 

[Gyuribá]

f*** the bastards of the redarmy, they killed my people, destroyed my country, raped our woman! f*** them all.

 

[Stoo82]

Lesser of 2 evils at that time.

The Soviets kill more than the Nazis could ever dream of.

 

[Gyuribá]

Totally agree.

These fuckin communists were your allies, I know. But Stalin was the biggest mass murderer of all-time.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Never forget the destrution and crimes the Soviets committed on their way to Berlin.

Back in 1994, I had the pleasure of attending a wedding in a small village in Siberia, about 50 miles north of Omsk. The bride's grandfather was a Red Army veteran who was wearing a medal that commemorated the fact that he and his comrades had trekked on foot from Omsk to Berlin - about 3,000 miles.

This was an occasion that reminded me that, whatever the bigger picture, warfare is also about the bravery and fortitude of individual soldiers whose personal achievements deserve to be remembered.

 

[wunt be druv]

Very true. Up to 850,000 Nazi casualties (Killed, Wounded, POW) and up to 1.1 million Soviet ones plus the destruction of the city and surrounding areas. I'm not sure anyone really knows the total number of dead.

I recently went to Russia and visited the site of the battles and they are still digging up corpses to this day. Totally harrowing to think of the immense loss of life.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Totally agree.

These fuckin communists were your allies, I know. But Stalin was the biggest mass murderer of all-time.

Stalin was responsible for 20 million deaths. A truly evil man.

 

[Gyuribá]

Stalin was responsible for 20 million deaths. A truly evil man.

And he was responsible for the 40 years of communism for us.

 

[house your seagull]

I was staying in Russia and noticed loads of memorials/statues commemorating the war. Thing that struck me was they all read 1941-1945.

I asked the people I was with about the allies etc and they didn't even know Britain was involved in the second world war!

The Russians are a funny bunch at the best of times, but in UK education (certainly these days) they take in a lot about the allies, and the pre-war german state. Overall i think there's a lot of respect to the yanks and russians from our end, a lot of gratitude.

But as I said, funny bunch!

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I was staying in Russia and noticed loads of memorials/statues commemorating the war. Thing that struck me was they all read 1941-1945.

I asked the people I was with about the allies etc and they didn't even know Britain was involved in the second world war!

The Russians are a funny bunch at the best of times, but in UK education (certainly these days) they take in a lot about the allies, and the pre-war german state. Overall i think there's a lot of respect to the yanks and russians from our end, a lot of gratitude.

But as I said, funny bunch!

Indeed. But educational ignorance works both ways.

A Czech friend of mine, who escaped from Prague to the UK in 1968, had a disconcerting habit of saying things like "After the Russians won the war ..." This invariably provoked responses of "Whaaattt ... ?"

 

[Dandyman]

And he was responsible for the 40 years of communism for us.

I'd suggest the Arrow Cross and Hungarian fascism might also have had something to do with that.